In a hospital or extended care facility scene, it is common to see bedridden patients constantly battling to keep their personal items organized in or near their bed. These items include a television remote control, pens, pencils, stationary, writing pads, books, and the like. While larger bedside tables can be used, such surfaces often become cluttered with food, flowers, containers or other larger items. Also, such tables are frequently pushed aside for medical tests, obtaining vitals, or other tasks, and are frequently not returned to the bedside area. Such smaller items can also become easily lost in the sheets and are a frequent cause of patient aggravation.
Similar aggravations are presented to physically challenged people who must spend much of the time in a seated or laying position in which similar items may slip between cushions, get lost underneath furniture, or are mislaid when temporally moved. Additionally, when a person may want these personal items it may be late at night when there is no one nearby to assist them and searching for the desired item is made increasingly difficult due to the lack of illumination in a dark room.
Attempts have been made to provide a means of holding and organizing personal items at bedside or similar location as can be seen by reference in several U.S. patents. These include U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,442, issued in the name of Keenan, which describes a pistol holster holder for a bedside; U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,246, issued in the name of Traynor, which describes a multipocketed article storage caddy for bedrails; U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,235, issued in the name of Johnson, which describes a remote control holder; U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,152, issued in the name of Ritchie et al., which describes a storage organizer for a hospital bed; U.S. Pat. No. 6,233,765, issued in the name of Verhulst, which describes a storage organizer for a cot; U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,963, issued in the name of Couture, which describes a bed pocket storage system secured to a sheet; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,419, issued in the name of Kurtz, which describes a clamp-on storage endboard for a cot.
Similarly, attempts have been made to provide bed clothing with storage pockets as can be seen by reference in U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,836, issued in the name of Everson et al., which describes a bed sheet with storage pouches; U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,132, issued in the name of Dale, which describes a bedside organizer placed over a bed; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,152, issued in the name of Wootten, Jr. et al., which describes a bed sheet with a side pocket.
Additionally, ornamental designs for holders, bags, and pockets exist, particularly, U.S. Pat. Nos. D 324,810, issued in the name of Moye, Sr.; D361,462, issued in the name of Newham; D 420,510, issued in the name of Girod; and D 522,750, issued in the name of Rotan. However, none of these designs are similar to the present invention.
However, several disadvantages still exist in these attempts. These examples have limited mounting locations due to their configuration and lack the versatility to be moved from a bed to a wheel chair or other article of furniture. Furthermore, these examples do not provide any means to assist a user in locating and identifying personal articles in low light situations.
While these devices do fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffers from one or more of the aforementioned disadvantages.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which basic personal items can be controlled and stored near a resting location without the disadvantages as listed above. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.